William King Museum of Art
Calendar of Events
December News
December 4
6-8 p.m.
First Thursday - Opening Reception for Panoramic Gallery: SAVED
December 6
12-4 p.m.
Holiday Open House
December 6
6 p.m.
Town of Abingdon Kiwanis Christmas Parade, Main Street
December 11
7 p.m.
Lecture: A People at War by Dr. Scott Nelson (held at the Southwest
Virginia Higher Education Center; free and open to the public)
December 18
7 p.m.
Lecture: War Comes to Abingdon by Michael Shaffer (held at the
Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center; free and open to the public)
December 24
Closed for the Christmas Holiday
December 25
Closed for the Christmas Holiday
December 26
Closed for the Christmas Holiday
January 8
6-8 p.m.
First Thursday - Barter Theatre season poster unveiling,
final public tour of An American Turning Point at 7 p.m.
An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia, on loan from the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond
August 2, 2014 - February 1, 2015
Cavaliers of Nowhere: Photographs by Tammy Mercure and Dawn Roe
September 2 - January 18, 2015
Panoramic Gallery: SAVED by Jody Servon and Lorene Delany-Ullman
December 1, 2014 – February 2, 2015
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 4 from 6-8 p.m.
Coming soon: Mapping the Cosmos: Jan Hurt and a Constellation of Artists
Opening Reception First Thursday, February 5 from 6-8 p.m.
February 6 – May 17, 2015
Join us for the final two lectures in the
An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia Program Series
Lecture: A People At War: Civilians and Soldiers in America’s Civil War
Thursday, December 11, 7 p.m.; SWVHEC
Dr. Scott Nelson, Legum Professor of History at the College of William and Mary and co-author of A People at War:
Civilians and Soldiers in America’s Civil War, discusses the devastating impact of the war on countless numbers of common soldiers and civilians and shows how average Americans coped with despair as well as hope during this period of
upheaval. Free and open to the public!
Lecture: War Comes to Abingdon
Thursday, December 18, 7 p.m.; SWVHEC
Just days after the anniversary of Stoneman’s Raid and the burning of Abingdon’s courthouse, Michael Shaffer discusses
the Civil War in Abingdon. Shaffer is the former Assistant Director of Kennesaw State University’s Civil War Research
Center and author of the book Washington County, Virginia in the Civil War. Free and open to the public!
WKMA Participates in 4th Annual
O’ Christmas Tree Event at Fields-Penn House
The Fields-Penn 1860 House Museum will host its fourth annual “O Christmas Tree”
event from Saturday, November 29 to Tuesday, January 6. Nine local organizations have
decorated trees throughout the house.
Visitors place a vote for their favorite tree by leaving a canned or nonperishable food item
or pet food items and supplies. Preferred contributions include high-protein items such
as peanut butter, beef stew, and canned meats for Ecumenical Faith in Action’s Stone
Soup Food Pantry. Pet items benefit the Animal Defense League of Washington County,
Virginia. The ADL requests high-quality pet food, including dry kibble such as Purina and
canned food; clumping cat litter and cleaning supplies such as bleach and laundry detergent are also used.
In recognition of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, most trees are decorated with that
era in mind. Correlating with the exhibition An American Turning Point: The Civil War
in Virginia, WMKA’s tree imagines what a tree would look like if decorated by a soldier
away from home at Christmas during the Civil War
Whether you lived in the North or South, Christmas during the Civil War was a difficult
time. It was a challenge to keep holiday cheer when the nation was torn apart by war,
when the safety of your property, your home, and your family was in doubt. Soldiers,
separated from their loved ones, would often try to replicate the trappings of Christmas in their encampments.
Private Alfred Bellard of the 5th New Jersey Infantry, described his camp along the Potomac
River during Christmas:
In order to make it look much like Christmas as possible, a small tree was struck up in front of
a tent, decked off with hard tack and pork, in lieu of cakes and oranges, etc.
The Fields-Penn House Museum is open five days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
12-5 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Guided tours will be offered on Fridays at
10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. On Saturdays during the event, guided tours will be offered
at 12 p.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. Guided group tours are also available during times the house is
closed, as the schedule permits. Self-guided tours of the house are available every day, with
handouts detailing the house’s history available for visitors.